27 “A focus on cost-cutting and efficiency has helped many organizations weather the downturn, but this approach will ultimately render them obsolete. Only the constant pursuit of innovation can ensure long-term success.” —Daniel Muzyka, Dean, Sauder School of Business, Univ of British Columbia (FT/ )

29 “Mergers and acquisitions get the headlines, but studies show they often end up destroying shareholder value instead of creating it. That’s one reason why organic growth is so prized by corporations and investors. In fact, if you compare the stock performance of a new index of 23 companies that are masters of organic growth to the S&P500, the Organic Growth Index beat the S&P500 handily, 31% vs. 22% over the year ending January And looking further back at a five-year period ending in 2002, the OGI walloped the S&P500, 25% vs. 3%.” —Fortune.com/ (The OGI includes Wal*Mart, Sysco, Harley-Davidson, Bed, Bath & Beyond, NVR)

35 “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin (courtesy HP)

36 “How we feel about the evolving future tells us who we are as individuals and as a civilization: Do we search for stasis—a regulated, engineered world? Or do we embrace dynamism—a world of constant creation, discovery and competition? Do we value stability and control? Or evolution and learning? Do we think that progress requires a central blueprint? Or do we see it as a decentralized, evolutionary process? Do we see mistakes as permanent disasters? Or the correctable byproducts of experimentation? Do we crave predictability? Or relish surprise? These two poles, stasis and dynamism, increasingly define our political, intellectual and cultural landscape.” —Virginia Postrel, The Future and Its Enemies

43 “In Tom’s world, it’s always better to try a swan dive and deliver a colossal belly flop than to step timidly off the board while holding your nose.” —Fast Company /October2003

44 Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to WinHardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win? by George Stalk & Rob Lachenauer/HBS Press “The winners in business have always played hardball.” “Unleash massive and overwhelming force.” “Exploit anomalies.” “Threaten your competitor’s profit sanctuaries.” “Entice your competitor into retreat.” Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s (service, retention, loyalty), 4. People (employees, motivation, morale, worker/s), 0. Innovation (product development, research & development, new products), 0.

48 “Where Having Fun Is Now O. K. ” —headline NYT/04. 24“Where Having Fun Is Now O.K.” —headline NYT/ /an article about Singapore “It’s still illegal to chew gum in Singapore, but having fun in the formerly staid city-state is now officially sanctioned.”

51 Re-imagine Permanence: The Emperor Has No ClothesRe-imagine Permanence: The Emperor Has No Clothes! (The Emperor Is an Idiot.)

52 Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39 members of the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100 “survivors” underperformed the market by 20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market 1917 to S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997: 74 members of the Class of ’57 were alive in ’97; 12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957 to Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market

53 “I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs seeking escape from life within huge corporate structures, ‘How do I build a small firm for myself?’ The answer seems obvious: Buy a very large one and just wait.” —Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics

56 “The difficulties … arise from the inherent conflict between the need to control existing operations and the need to create the kind of environment that will permit new ideas to flourish—and old ones to die a timely death. … We believe that most corporations will find it impossible to match or outperform the market without abandoning the assumption of continuity. … The current apocalypse—the transition from a state of continuity to state of discontinuity—has the same suddenness [as the trauma that beset civilization in 1000 A.D.]” Richard Foster & Sarah Kaplan, “Creative Destruction” (The McKinsey Quarterly)

57 “The corporation as we know it, which is now 120 years old, is not likely to survive the next 25 years. Legally and financially, yes, but not structurally and economically.” Peter Drucker, Business 2.0

59 Re-imagine General Electric “Welch was to a large degree a growth by acquisition man. ‘In the late ’90s,’ Immelt says, ‘we became business traders, not business growers. Today organic growth is absolutely the biggest task of everyone of our companies. If we don’t hit our organic growth targets, people are not going to get paid.’ … Immelt has staked GE’s future growth on the force that guided the company at it’s birth and for much of its history: breathtaking, mind-blowing, world-rattling technological innovation.” —“GE Sees the Light”/Business 2.0/July 2004

60 “Under his former boss, Jack Welch, the skills GE prized above all others were cost-cutting, efficiency and deal-making. What mattered was the continual improvement of operations, and that mindset helped the $152 billion industrial and finance behemoth become a marvel of earnings consistency. Immelt hasn’t turned his back on the old ways. But in his GE, the new imperatives are risk-taking, sophisticated marketing and, above all, innovation.” —BW/032805

62 “Almost every personal friend I have in the world works on Wall Street“Almost every personal friend I have in the world works on Wall Street. You can buy and sell the same company six times and everybody makes money, but I’m not sure we’re actually innovating. … Our challenge is to take nanotechnology into the future, to do personalized medicine …” —Jeff Immelt/Fast Company/07.05

63 Immelt on “Innovation breakthroughs”: Pull out and fund ideas in each business that will generate >$100M in revenue; find best people to lead (80 throughout GE) Source: Fast Company/07.05

65 “Analysts said we don’t care about revenue, just give us the bottom line. They preferred cost cutting, as long as they could see two or three years of EPS growth. I preached revenue and the analysts’ eyes would glaze over. Now revenue is ‘in’ because so many got caught, and earnings went to hell. They said, ‘Oh my gosh, you need revenues to grow earnings over time.’ Well, Duh!” —Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo (in ABA Banking Journal)

66 Top Line, Anyone? Point (Advertising Age), to Phil Kotler: “Who should the CMO [Chief Marketing Officer] report to?” Kotler: “Maybe a Chief Revenue Officer—the cost side has been squeezed, now companies have to focus on top-line growth—or maybe a Chief Customer Officer. (TP: Or maybe both!)

67 “Good management was the most powerful reason [leading firms] failed to stay atop their industries. Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively in technologies that would provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted, and because they carefully studied market trends and systematically allocated investment capital to innovations that promised the best returns, they lost their positions of leadership.” Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma

68 “When asked to name just one big merger that had lived up to expectations, Leon Cooperman, former cochairman of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Policy Committee, answered: I’m sure there are success stories out there, but at this moment I draw a blank.” Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap

69 “Not a single company that qualified as having made a sustained transformation ignited its leap with a big acquisition or merger. Moreover, comparison companies—those that failed to make a leap or, if they did, failed to sustain it—often tried to make themselves great with a big acquisition or merger. They failed to grasp the simple truth that while you can buy your way to growth, you cannot buy your way to greatness.” —Jim Collins/ Time/

70 Duh!“Blockbuster mergers tend to be duds for stockholders of the acquiring company. In seven of the nine mergers valued at more than $50 billion, the acquirer’s share price is down an average of 46% from pre-merger levels, according to FactSet Mergerstat, a research firm from Santa Monica.”Source: Time (Time candidly points out, TW and AOL were the worst, wiping out 80% of shareholder value.)

73 “Shremp is one of the last dinosaurs of Germany Inc“Shremp is one of the last dinosaurs of Germany Inc. He represents a strategy of acquiring assets and building empires that just didn’t work.” —Arndt Ellinghorst/ analyst/Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein

74 “Acquisitions are about buying market share“Acquisitions are about buying market share. Our challenge is to create markets. There is a big difference.” Peter Job, CEO, Reuters

75 Omnicom's acquisitions: “not for size per se”; “buying talent;” “deepen a relationship with a client.” (Advertising Age/07.05) “Omnicom very simply is about talent. It’s about the acquisition of talent, providing the atmosphere so talent is attracted to it.” (John Wren)

81 “All Strategy Is Local: True competitive advantages are harder to find and maintain than people realize. The odds are best in tightly drawn markets, not big, sprawling ones” —Title/Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/HBR09.05“Sustainable domination is more likely in markets of restricted size. It is paradoxical but true that economies of scale are subject to scale limitations themselves. … When a market gets too big, diseconomies of coordination can prevail over economies of scale.” —Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/“All Strategy Is Local”/HBR09.05

82 — Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/“All Strategy Is Local”/HBR09.05“Some observers have argued that Wal*Mart owes its superior returns to its enormous size and, as a consequence, its purchasing power. [But] if the purchasing power that comes with size were responsible for the company’s success, then Wal*Mart’s profitability should have increased as the company grew. Yet its operating margins have not increased since hitting their high watermark in the mid-1980s. … As Wal*Mart has grown, its profit margins have suffered in comparison with those of more geographically concentrated competitors, such as Target. … Sam’s Club appears to be no more profitable than Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club. The fact that Sam’s Club is the least geographically concentrated of the three competitors appears to have offset any advantages derived from Wal*Mart’s efficiency. … Wal*Mart’s experience overseas tends to confirm the limited impact of the retailer’s operating advantage. Overseas returns are less than half its domestic margins.”— Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/“All Strategy Is Local”/HBR09.05

83 —Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/“All Strategy Is Local”/HBR09.05“For all their talk of the global convergence of consumer demand, separate local environments are still characterized, in both obvious and subtle ways, by different tastes, different government rules, different business practices and different cultural norms. … The more local a company’s strategies are, the better the execution tends to be. Localism promotes decentralization—and since the days of Alfred Sloan, decentralized management has consistently served as a superior structure for concentrating management attention.”—Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/“All Strategy Is Local”/HBR09.05

86 “Beware of the tyranny of making Small Changes to Small Things“Beware of the tyranny of making Small Changes to Small Things. Rather, make Big Changes to Big Things.” —Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo

87 Just Say No … “I don’t intend to be known as the ‘King of the Tinkerers.’ ” CEO, large financial services company

88 “Wealth in this new regime flows directly from innovation, not optimization. That is, wealth is not gained by perfecting the known, but by imperfectly seizing the unknown.” —Kevin Kelly, New Rules for the New Economy

91 Forget>“Learn” “The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.” Dee Hock

92 Innovation Index: How many of your Top 5 Strategic Initiatives/Key Projects score 8 or higher (out of 10) on a “Weirdness”/“Profundity/ “Game-changer” Scale?

93 Bottom line: No promotion to senior levels of public or private enterprise should ever again be granted to anyone who does not present a CV saturated by a clear and compelling demonstration of sustained commitment to Radical Change. Do we wish for “good strategists”? Why not! But the heart of the matter goes far beyond any plan, no matter how brilliant. The heart of the matter is Heart & Will ... a record of upsetting apple carts, dislodging “establishments,” and fundamentally altering deep-rooted “cultures” to embrace change of the most primal sort. I titled my most recent book Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age. “Excellence” in a “disruptive age” is not excellence amidst placid waters. The notion of excellence itself changes ... dramatically. We need our public and private Churchills, leaders who can re-imagine, who can call forth wellsprings of daring and guts and spirit and spunk, from one and all, to topple the way things may have been for many generations—and who inspire us to venture forth into today’s and tomorrow’s whitewaters with insouciance and bravado and determination.

106 SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship 18. Unmistakable Results & Accountability focus from theget-go to the grave (GE, New York Yankees, PepsiCo)19. Up or Out (GE, McKinsey, big consultancies and law firmsand ad agencies and movie studios in general)20. Competitive to a fault! (GE, New York Yankees, NewsCorp/Fox, PepsiCo)21. “Bi-polar” Top Team, with “Unglued” Innovator #1,powerful Control Freak #2 (Oracle, Virgin) (Watch out when #2 ismissing: Enron)22. Masters of Loose-Tight/Hard-nosed about a very few CoreValues, Open-minded about everything else (Virgin)

108 The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Walmart16*Niche-aimed. (Never, ever “all things for all people,” a “mini-Wal*Mart.)*Never attack the monsters head on! (Instead steal niche business and lukewarm customers.)*“Dramatically different” (La Difference ... within our community, our industry regionally, etc … is as obvious as the end of one’s nose!) (THIS IS WHERE MOST MIDGETS COME UP SHORT.)*Compete on value/experience/intimacy, not price. (You ain’t gonna beat the behemoths on cost-price in 9.99 out of 10 cases.)*Emotional bond with Clients, Vendors. (BEAT THE BIGGIES ON EMOTION/CONNECTION!!)

109 The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Walmart16*Hands-on, emotional leadership. (“We are a great & cool & intimate & joyful & dramatically different team working to transform our Clients lives via Consistently Incredible Experiences!”)*A community star! (“Sell” local-ness per se. Sell the hell out of it!)*An incredible experience, from the first to last moment—and then in the follow-up! (“These guys are cool! They ‘get’ me! They love me!”)*DESIGN! (“Design” is a premier weapon-in-pursuit-of-the sublime for small-ish enterprises, including the professional services.)

110 The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Walmart16*Employer of choice. (A very cool, well-paid place to work/learning and growth experience in at least the short term … marked by notably progressive policies.) (THIS IS EMINENTLY DO-ABLE!!)*Sophisticated use of information technology. (Small-“ish” is no excuse for “small aims”/execution in IS/IT!)*Web-power! (The Web can make very small very big … if the product-service is super-cool and one purposefully masters buzz/viral marketing.)*Innovative! (Must keep renewing and expanding and revising and re-imagining “the promise” to employees, the customer, the community.)

111 The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Walmart16*Brand-Lovemark* (*Kevin Roberts) Maniacs! (“Branding” is not just for big folks with big budgets. And modest size is actually a Big Advantage in becoming a local-regional-niche “lovemark.”)*Focus on women-as-clients. (Most don’t. How stupid.)*Excellence! (A small player … per me … has no right or reason to exist unless they are in Relentless Pursuit of Excellence. One earns the right—one damn day and client experience at a time!—to beat the Big Guys in your chosen niche!)

115 CUSTOMERS: “Future-defining customers may account for only 2% to 3% of your total, but they represent a crucial window on the future.” Adrian Slywotzky, Mercer Consultants

116 “Generally, disruptive technologies underperform established established products in mainstream markets. But they have other features that a few fringe (and generally new) customers value.” Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma

117 “If you worship at the throne of the voice of the customer, you’ll get only incremental advances.” Joseph Morone, President, Bentley CollegeStrong language, no?

118 “These days, you can’t succeed as a company if you’re consumer led – because in a world so full of so much constant change, consumers can’t anticipate the next big thing. Companies should be idea-led and consumer-informed.” Doug Atkin, partner, Merkley Newman HartyLead. Or die!

120 COMPETITORS: “The best swordsman in the world doesn’t need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn’t do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn’t prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do and often it catches the expert out and ends him on the spot.” Mark Twain

122 “Companies have defined so much ‘best practice’ that they are now more or less identical.” Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never

123 “The short road to ruin is to emulate the methods of your adversary“The short road to ruin is to emulate the methods of your adversary.” — Winston Churchill

124 “This is an essay about what it takes to create and sell something remarkable. It is a plea for originality, passion, guts and daring. You can’t be remarkable by following someone else who’s remarkable. One way to figure out a theory is to look at what’s working in the real world and determine what the successes have in common. But what could the Four Seasons and Motel 6 possibly have in common? Or Neiman-Marcus and Wal*Mart? Or Nokia (bringing out new hardware every 30 days or so) and Nintendo (marketing the same Game Boy 14 years in a row)? It’s like trying to drive looking in the rearview mirror. The thing that all these companies have in common is that they have nothing in common. They are outliers. They’re on the fringes. Superfast or superslow. Very exclusive or very cheap. Extremely big or extremely small. The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is the leader precisely because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing is now taken—so it’s no longer remarkable when you decide to do it.” —Seth Godin, Fast Company/

125 “How do dominant companies lose their position“How do dominant companies lose their position? Two-thirds of the time, they pick the wrong competitor to worry about.” —Don Listwin, CEO, Openwave Systems/WSJ/ (commenting on Nokia)

129 Employees: “Are there enough weird people in the lab these days. ” VEmployees: “Are there enough weird people in the lab these days?” V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director

130 Why Do I love Freaks?(1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was a freak who did it. (Period.)(2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are never boring.)(3) We need freaks. Especially in freaky times. (Hint: These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the Army & Avon.)(4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst automatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see immediately above.)(5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in, make it into the history books.(6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most of us—and our organizations—are in ruts. Make that chasms.)

131 Suppliers: “There is an ominous downside to strategic supplier relationships. An SSR supplier is not likely to function as any more than a mirror to your organization. Fringe suppliers that offer innovative business practices need not apply.” Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees

132 Axiom: Never use a vendor who is not in the top quartile (decileAxiom: Never use a vendor who is not in the top quartile (decile?) in their industry on R&D spending!* *Inspired by Hummingbird

133 Boards: “Extremely contentious boards that regard dissent as an obligation and that treat no subject as undiscussable” —Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Yale School of Management

134 “The Bottleneck is at the Top of the Bottle” “Where are you likely to find people with the least diversity of experience, the largest investment in the past, and the greatest reverence for industry dogma? At the top!” — Gary Hamel/“Strategy or Revolution”/Harvard Business Review

143 “UPS used to be a trucking company with technology“UPS used to be a trucking company with technology. Now it’s a technology company with trucks.” —Forbes

144 “Our entire facility is digital. No paper, no film, no medical records“Our entire facility is digital. No paper, no film, no medical records. Nothing. And it’s all integrated—from the lab to X-ray to records to physician order entry. Patients don’t have to wait for anything. The information from the physician’s office is in registration and vice versa. The referring physician is immediately sent an telling him his patient has shown up. … It’s wireless in-house. We have 800 notebook computers that are wireless. Physicians can walk around with a computer that’s pre-programmed. If the physician wants, we’ll go out and wire their house so they can sit on the couch and connect to the network. They can review a chart from 100 miles away.” —David Veillette, CEO, Indiana Heart Hospital (HealthLeaders/ )

145 “Ebusiness is about rebuilding the organization from the ground up“Ebusiness is about rebuilding the organization from the ground up. Most companies today are not built to exploit the Internet. Their business processes, their approvals, their hierarchies, the number of people they employ … all of that is wrong for running an ebusiness.” Ray Lane, Kleiner Perkins

146 5% F500 have CIO on Board: “While some of the world’s most admired companies—Tesco, Wal*Mart —are transforming the business landscape by including technology experts on their boards, the vast majority are missing out on ways to boost productivity, competitiveness and shareholder value.” Source: Burson-Marsteller

164 “The nearly 1 billion people online worldwide—along with their shared knowledge, social contacts, online reputations, computing power, and more—are rapidly becoming a collective force of unprecedented power. For the first time in human history, mass cooperation across time and space is suddenly economical.” —BW/

165 “There’s a fundamental shift in power happening“There’s a fundamental shift in power happening. Everywhere, people are getting together and, using the Internet, disrupting whatever activities they’re involved in.” —Pierre Omidyar, founder, eBay

176 “Hospital Services Performed Overseas” —headline, Washington Post/04“Hospital Services Performed Overseas” —headline, Washington Post/ “When patients needed urgent CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds late at night at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury CT, emergency room workers used to rouse a bleary-eyed staff radiologist from his bed to read the images. Not anymore. The work now goes to Arjun Kalyanpur—8,000 miles away in Bangalore …”

182 “Typically in a mortgage company or financial services company, ‘risk management’ is an overhead, not a revenue center. We’ve become more than that. We pay for ourselves, and we actually make money for the company.” —Frank Eichorn, Director of Credit Risk Data Management Group, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Source: sas.com)

186 7A. The “PSF35”: Thirty-Five Professional Service Firm Marks of Excellence

187 “ ‘Disintermediation’ is overrated“ ‘Disintermediation’ is overrated. Those who fear disintermediation should in fact be afraid of irrelevance—disintermediation is just another way of saying that you’ve become irrelevant to your customers.” —John Battelle/Point/ Advertising Age/07.05

188 “Think BIG … Think DIFFERENT … Think COOL” … “Appropriate ‘benchmark’: earn a place in the history books … be able to say to your grandson/daughter, ’I was project manager of the Big Dig’” —TP/Bentley magazine

189 The PSF35: The Work & The Legacy 1The PSF35: The Work & The Legacy 1. CRYSTAL CLEAR POINT OF VIEW (Every Practice Group:“If you can’t explain your position in eight words or less, you don’t have aposition”—Seth Godin) 2. DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE (“We are the only ones who do whatwe do”—Jerry Garcia) 3. Stretch Is Routine (“Never bite off less than you can chew”—anon.) 4. Eye-Appetite for Game-changer Projects (Excellence at Assembling“Best Team”—Fast) 5. “Playful” Clients (Adventurous folks who unfailingly Aim to Changethe World) 6. Small “Uneconomic” Clients with Big Aims7. Life Is Too Short to Work with Jerks (Fire lousy clients) 8. OBSESSED WITH LEGACY (Practice Group and Individual: “Dent theUniverse”—Steve Jobs) 9. Fire-on-the-spot Anyone Who Says, “Law/Architecture/Consulting/I-banking/ Accounting/PR/Etc. has become a ‘commodity’ ”10. Consistent with #9 above … DO NOT SHY AWAY FROM THEWORD (IDEA) “RADICAL”

195 Question #1 …“HOW WILL THIS PROJECT ENHANCE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN A WAY THAT WILL IMPLEMENT ‘DRAMATIC DIFFERENCES’ FROM OUR COMPETITORS SO THAT WE CAN CAPTURE NEW CUSTOMERS, RETAIN OLD CUSTOMERS & GROW THEIR BUSINESS, BUILD OUR BRAND INTO A LOVEMARK … AND KICK-START THE ‘TOP LINE’ ?”

197 The PSF35: The Client Experience 11The PSF35: The Client Experience 11. Always team with client: “full partners in achieving memorable results” (Wanted: “Chimeras of Moonstruck Minds”!) 12. We will seek assistance Anywhere to assemble the Best-in Planet Team for the Project 13. Client Team Members routinely declare that working with us was “the Peak Experience of my Career” 14. The job’s not done until implementation is “100.00% complete” (Those who don’t “get it” must go) 15. IMPLEMENTATION IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL THE CLIENT HAS EXPERIENCED “CULTURE CHANGE” 16. IMPLEMENTATION IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL SIGNIFICANT “TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER” HAS TAKEN PLACE-ROOT (“Teach a man to fish …”) 17. The Final Exam: DID WE MAKE A DRAMATIC, LASTING, GAME-CHANGING DIFFERENCE?

198 The PSF35: The People & The Leadership 18The PSF35: The People & The Leadership 18. TALENT FANATICS (“Best-Coolest place to work”) (PERIOD) 19. EYE FOR THE PECULIAR (Hiring: Go beyond “same old,same old”) 20. Early Opportunities (vs. “Wait your turn”) 21. Up or Out (Based on “Legacy”/Mentoring as much as“Billings”/“Rainmaking”) 22. Slide the Old Aside/Make Room for Youth (Find oldstersnew roles?) 23. TALENT IS OBSESSED WITH RENEWAL FROM DAY #1 TODAY #“R” [R = Retirement] 24. Office/Practice Leaders Evaluated Primarily onMentoring-Team Building Skills25. A “PROPRIETARY” TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (GE)26. Team Leadership Skills Valued Early 27. Partner with B.I.W. [Best In World] Outsiders as Neededand to Infuse Different Views

199 The PSF35: The Firm & The Brand 28The PSF35: The Firm & The Brand 28. EAT-SLEEP-BREATHE-OOZE INTEGRITY (“My life ismy message”—Gandhi)29. Excellence+ in EXECUTION … % of the Time(No such thing as a “small sins”/World Series Ring tothe Batboy!) 30. “Drop everything”/“Swarm” to Support a Harried-OnThe Verge Team 31. SPEND AS AGGRESSIVELY ON R&D AS A TECH FIRM ORCIRQUE DU SOLEIL32. A PROPRIETARY METHODOLOGY (FBR, McKinsey, Chiat Day, IDEO, old EDS) 33. Web (Technology) Obsession34. BRAND/“LOVEMARK” MANIACS (Organize Around a Pointof View Worth BROADCASTING: “You must be thechange you wish to see in the world”—Gandhi)35. PASSION! ENTHUSIASM! (Passion & Enthusiasm have asmuch a place at the Head Table in a “PSF” as in awidgets factory: “You can’t behave in a calm, rationalmanner. You’ve got to be out there on the lunaticfringe”—Jack Welch)

201 “This is the true joy of Life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one … the being a Force of Nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” —GB Shaw/ Man and Superman (from Mike Ray, The Highest Goal)

202 “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead

203 “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist,“Nobody can preventyou from choosing tobe exceptional.” —Mark Sanborn,The Fred Factor“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist,That is all.” —Oscar Wilde“Make your life itself acreative work of art.” —Mike Ray, The Highest Goal

210 “[Other] admirals more frightened of losing than anxious to win” SP: “But can you turn a ‘defensive player’ into an ‘offensive player’?” TP: “Yes! Work with him/her to re-frame their principal project to the point that the ego is engaged and it becomes a ‘life compulsion.’ ” * * “If you and I had $150K in the bank and on the line and the day before the opening the fFre Inspector …”

215 Demo = Story “A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective communication of a story.” Howard Gardner, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership

216 “Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix them“Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix them. I look for things that went right, and try to build off them.” —Bob Stone (Mr ReGo)

225 “While everything may be better, it is also increasingly the same“While everything may be better, it is also increasingly the same.” Paul Goldberger on retail, “The Sameness of Things,” The New York Times

226 “The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality.” Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business

229 “Lenovo is buying the one thing from IBM that cannot be commoditized, that China can’t produce more cheaply and more efficiently: superior management.” —Wired/07.05

230 Planetary Rainmaker-in-Chief “[Sam] Palmisano’s strategy is to expand tech’s borders by pushing users—and entire industries—toward radically different business models. The payoff for IBM would be access to an ocean of revenue—Palmisano estimates it at $500 billion a year—that technology companies have never been able to touch.” —Fortune/

231 “By making the Global Delivery Model both legitimate and mainstream, we have brought the battle to our territory. That is, after all, the purpose of strategy. We have become the leaders, and incumbents [IBM, Accenture] are followers, forever playing catch-up. … However, creating a new business innovation is not enough for rules to be changed. The innovation must impact clients, competitors, investors, and society. We have seen all this in spades. Clients have embraced the model and are demanding it in even greater measure. The acuteness of their circumstance, coupled with the capability and value of our solution, has made the choice not a choice. Competitors have been dragged kicking and screaming to replicate what we do. They face trauma and disruption, but the game has changed forever. Investors have grasped that this is not a passing fancy, but a potential restructuring of the way the world operates and how value will be created in the future.” —Narayana Murthy, chairman’s letter, Infosys Annual Report 2003

232 “[Closing/selling Boeings 8,000-person facility in Wichita] was an important decision in moving forward with Boeing’s long-term strategy of becoming a large-scale integrator.” —The Wichita Eagle/

233 “Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS Aims to Be the Traffic Manager for Corporate America” —Headline/BW/

235 “Customer Satisfaction” to “Customer Success” “We’re getting better at [Six Sigma] every day. But we really need to think about the customer’s profitability. Are customers’ bottom lines really benefiting from what we provide them?” Bob Nardelli, GE Power Systems

241 “My advice is when you think strategy think about de-commoditizing“My advice is when you think strategy think about de-commoditizing. Try desperately to make products and services distinctive, and customers stick to you like glue. Think about innovation, technology, internal processes, service add-ons—whatever works to be unique. Doing that right means you can even mke a few mistakes and still succeed.” —Jack Welch/Fortune/04.05

242 “[Sony] faces turmoil as it makes the transition from hardware to software, from products to services.” —Tim Clark & Carl Kay, “It Will Take More Than a Foreign CEO to Save Sony,” NYT ( )

246 “Experiences are as distinct from services as services are from goods“Experiences are as distinct from services as services are from goods.” Joseph Pine & James Gilmore, The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage

247 “Club Med is more than just a ‘resort’; it’s a means of rediscovering oneself, of inventing an entirely new ‘me.’ ” Source: Jean-Marie Dru, Disruption

248 “The [Starbucks] Fix” Is on … “We have identified a ‘third place“The [Starbucks] Fix” Is on … “We have identified a ‘third place.’ And I really believe that sets us apart. The third place is that place that’s not work or home. It’s the place our customers come for refuge.” Nancy Orsolini, District Manager

249 Experience: “Rebel LifestyleExperience: “Rebel Lifestyle!” “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns and have people be afraid of him.” Harley exec, quoted in Results-Based Leadership

258 “Most executives have no idea how to add value to a market in the metaphysical world. But that is what the market will cry out for in the future. There is no lack of ‘physical’ products to choose between.” Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never [on the excellence of Nokia, Nike, Lego, Virgin et al.]

267 Fight ’til Death. “I thought, ‘What a dreadful mission I have in lifeFight ’til Death! “I thought, ‘What a dreadful mission I have in life.’ I’d love to get six-thousand restaurants up to spec, but when I do it’s ‘Ho-hum.’ It’s bugged me ever since. It’s one of the great paradoxes of modern business. We all know distinction is key, and yet in the last twenty years we have created a plethora of ho-hum products and services. Just go fly in an airplane. It could be such an enlightening experience. Ho-hum. We swim in an ocean of ho-hum, and I’m going to fight it. I’m going to die fighting it.” — Barry Gibbons

268 “They need to devote less money to advertising and more to operations (pay their workers more) so as to insure a Quality Experience. All great advertising does is frustrate their consumers. They say ‘come experience this great place’ ... and customers experience something else and they get mad … AND WON'T COME BACK.” (Anon.)

269 Costco *$17/hour (42% above Sam’s); very good health plan; low t/o, low shrinkage *Low margins (“When I started, Sears, Roebuck was th Costco of the country, but they allowed someone to come in under them”—Jim Sinegal) Source: “How Costco Became the Anti-Wal*Mart/NYT/

271 DREAM: “A dream is a complete moment in the life of a clientDREAM: “A dream is a complete moment in the life of a client. Important experiences that tempt the client to commit substantial resources. The essence of the desires of the consumer. The opportunity to help clients become what they want to be.” —Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni

272 The Marketing of Dreams (Dreamketing) Dreamketing: Touching the clients’ dreams. Dreamketing: The art of telling stories and entertaining. Dreamketing: Promote the dream, not the product. Dreamketing: Build the brand around the main dream. Dreamketing: Build the “buzz,” the “hype,” the “cult.” Source: Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni

274 Furniture vs. Dreams “We do not sell ‘furniture’ at DomainFurniture vs. Dreams “We do not sell ‘furniture’ at Domain. We sell dreams. This is accomplished by addressing the half-formed needs in our customers’ heads. By uncovering these needs, we, in essence, fill in the blanks. We convert ‘needs’ into ‘dreams.’ Sales are the inevitable result.” — Judy George, Domain Home Fashions

275 “No longer are we only an insurance provider“No longer are we only an insurance provider. Today, we also offer our customers the products and services that help them achieve their dreams —whether it’s financial security, buying a car, paying for home repairs, or even taking a dream vacation.”—Martin Feinstein, CEO, Farmers Group

276 “The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.” — from the Ritz-Carlton Credo

277 Six Market Profiles 1. Adventures for Sale 2Six Market Profiles 1. Adventures for Sale 2. The Market for Togetherness, Friendship and Love 3. The Market for Care 4. The Who-Am-I Market 5. The Market for Peace of Mind 6. The Market for Convictions Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business

278 Six Market Profiles 1. Adventures for Sale/IBM-UPS-GE 2Six Market Profiles 1. Adventures for Sale/IBM-UPS-GE 2. The Market for Togetherness, Friendship and Love/IBM-UPS-GE 3. The Market for Care/IBM-UPS-GE 4. The Who-Am-I Market/IBM-UPS-GE 5. The Market for Peace of Mind/IBM-UPS-GE 6. The Market for Convictions/IBM-UPS-GE Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business

281 “The sun is setting on the Information Society—even before we have fully adjusted to its demands as individuals and as companies. We have lived as hunters and as farmers, we have worked in factories and now we live in an information-based society whose icon is the computer. We stand facing the fifth kind of society: the Dream Society. … Future products will have to appeal to our hearts, not to our heads. Now is the time to add emotional value to products and services.” —Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society:How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business

284 “Clients want either the best or the least expensive; there is no in between.” —from John Di Julius, Secret Service

285 “The ‘mass market’ is dead. Consumers look for either price or quality“The ‘mass market’ is dead. Consumers look for either price or quality. The middle is shrinking.” —Walter Robb/COO/Whole Foods/Investors Business Daily/

288 All Equal Except … “At Sony we assume that all products of our competitors have basically the same technology, price, performance and features. Design is the only thing that differentiates one product from another in the marketplace.” Norio Ohga

290 “We don’t have a good language to talk about this kind of thing“We don’t have a good language to talk about this kind of thing. In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. … But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation.” Steve Jobs

293 “Having spent a century or more focused on other goals—solving manufacturing problems, lowering costs, making goods and services widely available, increasing convenience, saving energy—we are increasingly engaged in making our world special. More people in more aspects of life are drawing pleasure and meaning from the way their persons, places and things look and feel. Whenever we have the chance, we’re adding sensory, emotional appeal to ordinary function.” — Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness

294 “With its carefully conceived mix of colors and textures, aromas and music, Starbucks is more indicative of our era than the iMac. It is to the Age of Aesthetics what McDonald’s was to the Age of Convenience or Ford was to the Age of Mass Production—the touchstone success story, the exemplar of all that is good and bad about the aesthetic imperative. … ‘Every Starbucks store is carefully designed to enhance the quality of everything the customers see, touch, hear, smell or taste,’ writes CEO Howard Schultz.” —Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness

297 “The lowliest household tool has become an object of color, texture, personality, whimsy, even elegance. Dozens, probably hundreds, of distinctively designed toilet-brush sets are available—functional, flamboyant, modern, mahogany. For about five bucks, you can buy Rubbermaid’s basic plastic bowl brush with caddy, which comes in seven different colors, to hide the bristles and keep the drips off the floor. For $8 you can take home a Michael Graves brush from Target, with a rounded blue handle and translucent white container. At $14 you can have an OXO brush, sleek and modern in a hard, shiny white plastic holder that opens as smoothly as the bay door on a science-fiction spaceship. For $32, you can order Philippe Starck’s Excalibur brush, whose hilt-like handle creates a lid when sheathed in its caddy. At $55 there’s Stefano Giovannoni’s Merdolino brush for Alessi … Cross the $100 barrier, and you can find all sorts …” —Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness

298 DESIGN IS THE DIFFERENCE!DESIGN IS INEVITABLE!DESIGN IS THE DIFFERENCE!DESIGN RULES!

299 “SAMSUNG DESIGN: THE KOREAN GIANT MAKES SOME OF THE COOLEST GADGETS ON EARTH. NOW IT’S REINVENTING ITSELF TO GET EVEN COOLER.” —Cover/BusinessWeek/

300 Samsung By Design * 5 IDEA in 2004 (Industrial Design Excellence Awards)/1st Asian company to win more than top European or American company * 1993/LA: Chmn … Why are our products lost, while Sony’s are out front? * Design staff/470 (120 in last 12 months); design budget 20% to 30% p.a.; Design Centers in London, LA, SF, Tokyo * Designers often dictate to engineers, not vice versa

302 Better By Design: Tom’s Design49 1. There are only 2 rules. 2Better By Design: Tom’s Design There are only 2 rules. 2. Rule #1: You can’t beat Wal*Mart on price or China on cost. 3. Rule #2: See Rule #1. 4. Econ Survival = Innovate and Sprint Up the Value-added Chain … OR DIE! 5. DESIGN (WRIT LARGE) (“DESIGN MINDFULNESS”) IS THE “SOUL”/ENGINE OF THE NEW VALUE-ADDED IMPERATIVE. 6. Design as Soul-Core Competence #1 is a “cultural imperative,” not a “programmatic” or “process” or “throw $$$ at it” issue! 7. CDEs (Culturally Design-driven Enterprises) use Design-Experiences-Dream Merchantry-Lovemarks as the Lead Dog(s) in the Olympian Innovation-“Strategy”-Value Proposition Struggle. 8. “Dream Merchant” makes as much sense for IBM or GE or UPS as for Starbucks!

304 Better By Design: Tom’s Design49 17. CDEs seek DiscontinuitiesBetter By Design: Tom’s Design CDEs seek Discontinuities. (JG: “We don’t want to be the best of the best, we want to be the only ones who do what we do.”) 18. CDEs are “respectful” of their customers, but not slaves to their customers! CDEs … LEAD THEIR CUSTOMERS! (Axioms: “Listening to customers” is over-rated! Focus groups suck!) 19. But: “Lead” customers are an entirely different matter! 20: Yet: CDEs turn “customers” into “Raving Fans.” (Think: “Tattoo Brand”!) 21. CDEs abide by Phil Daniels’ Credo: “REWARD EXCELLENT FAILURES. PUNISH MEDIOCRE SUCCESSES.” 22. At CDEs the Design Director is at least an Exec Vice President, a Member of the Senior Executive Team, perhaps on the Board, and has an office within 10 meters of the CEO (unless she is the CEO) Design Directors at large companies not worth $5,000,000 per year aren’t worth hiring! (DD$21M.)

305 Better By Design: Tom’s Design49 24Better By Design: Tom’s Design Great Designers are “10,000X” better than “good designers.” 25. At CDEs CFOs are never former CFOs! The CEO always doubles as the Chief Innovation Officer. 26. CDEs are “Top-line Obsessed.” 27. CDE execs know there is a chasm between “excellent design” and “game-changer design.” 28. Gasp-worthy design is a moving target! 29. No Broadway shows last forever. So too, great designers! (Hire them! Pay them! Cherish them! Nurture them! Fire them!) 30. Great design wrestles incessantly with the issue of “cool” and/versus “usability.”! 31. Designers “get” the stunning principles of Wabi Sabi. (Great designers side with Chris Alexander against the A.I.A.) 32. CDEs “get” the “feminine side” of life.

307 Better By Design: Tom’s Design4940. “Design mindfulness” is as apparent in HR and Engineering and Logistics and IS/IT as in NPD. 41. CDEs will settle for nothing less then “beautiful,” “gasp-worthy” Business Processes/Infrastructure! 42. CDEs obsess on K.I.S.S. (Beware creeping feature-itis!) (450/8.) 43. “Design-mindfulness”/“aesthetic sensibility” is a requisite for Every Hire—including waiters and waitresses in Fast Food outlets and Housekeepers in hotels.44. Gasp-worthy Design is as essential to “service companies” as to “manufacturers.” 45. Gasp-worthy design can transform any “commodity,” including ag!

308 Better By Design: Tom’s Design4946. DESIGN MANIA IS A NATIONAL ECONOMIC ISSUE OF THE FIRST ORDER. 47. “Small” is no disadvantage in an Age of Creativity!48. There is no such thing as a “National Design Advantage” unless the current school system is Destroyed & Re-imagined—to emphasize creativity and risk-taking and acceptance of failure. (Design Mindfulness … the suppression thereof … typically begins at Age 4.)49. How sweet it is! (If your head is screwed on right.)

323 It’s T-H-R-E-E, Stupid! “I used to have a rule for myself that at any point in time I wanted to have in mind — as it so happens, also in writing, on a little card I carried around with me — the three big things I was trying to get done. Three. Not two. Not four. Not five. Not ten. Three.” — Richard Haass, The Power to Persuade

331 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*“Measurement Architecture” = (Real) CorporateStrategy. (PERIOD.)*CIOs & CFOs & C“R”Os will become Soulmates in effective organizations!*Can a fourth grader understand it (Paul Sherlock,JW)?*Overall “systems architecture” should be in theheads of no more than three people. (Fred Brooksjr./360.)*Nothing is easier than lying with statistics.(Measurement is not Reality.)*Hard is Soft. Soft is Hard. (TP-RWjr.) (c.f. Enron.)

333 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*Systems & Measures should be/can be/ought to beWorks of Art!*Great systems are about aesthetics!*Is it “beautiful”?*Is it “graceful”?*Is it Surprising?*Use a great Graphic Designer on all systemsdevelopment teams … and a damn goodPsychologist. (Steve world.)

334 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*Systems design is not innocent: It is the UltimatePower Game!*She/He who controls the primary measures … Rulesthe World!

335 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*“Budgets” as we’ve known them are more than a “wretched waste”: They are Danger #1 in TurbulentTimes!*Budgets are exercises in Negotiated Timidity.*“Managing to budget” is a/the Mortal Sin.*Plan, then burn the plan! (Koppers.)*“Continuous” and “rolling” are superb ideas … but beware so much “plasticity” that one forgets the starting point! Hard. Comparitive datas is a “very good thing.”

336 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*“Intelligence” is always obvious after the fact.*B.I.: Remember HUMINT!!*Great BizIntelligence depends on Freaks &Whackos, from Langely to the Board Room. (I.e., BeIncredibly Eclectic in terms of sources ofIntelligence.)*All intelligence gathering is a Political Activity. (C.f.CIA, FBI.)*B.I. is about “outliers.” (?? If you can measure it,it’s not on the leading edge??)

339 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*Perform systems & Measures post-mortems aftermajor fiascos (“Why didn’t this stick out like a sorethumb?”)*The half-life of Measures is 3 years. (Effective“gaming” begins in year #2, reaches a crescendoby year #4.)

340 The Planning, Planning Systems, Intelligence & Measures50*Planning systems should support execution!(PERT/CPM.)*Uniformity of measurement/presentation acrossunits is fantastic up to a point.*“Let a thousand flowers bloom, let a hundredschools contend”: Let a 100 flowers bloom, let adozen schools contend.*Selection of measurements is one of the MostCreative Acts in the Enterprise!*Are there Freaks aplenty in the Systems & Measures& Intelligence activities?

341 12. Re-imagine the Fundamental Selling Proposition: “It” all adds up to … (THE BRAND.) (THE STORY.) (THE DREAM.) The Love.

350 “We are in the twilight of a society based on data“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place more value on the one human ability that cannot be automated: emotion. Imagination, myth, ritual - the language of emotion - will affect everything from our purchasing decisions to how we work with others. Companies will thrive on the basis of their stories and myths. Companies will need to understand that their products are less important than their stories.” Rolf Jensen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies

386 FemaleThink/ Popcorn & Marigold “Men and women don’t think the same way, don’t communicate the same way, don’t buy for the same reasons.” “He simply wants the transaction to take place. She’s interested in creating a relationship. Every place women go, they make connections.”

387 “Resting” State: 30%, 90%: “A woman knows her children’s friends, hopes, dreams, romances, secret fears, what they are thinking, how they are feeling. Men are vaguely aware of some short people also living in the house.” Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

389 “Women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy, and men speak and hear a language of status and independence. Men communicate to obtain information, establish their status, and show independence. Women communicate to create relationships, encourage interaction, and exchange feelings.” Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive SecretIt is – on average – this different!

396 “The ‘Connection Proclivity’ in women starts early“The ‘Connection Proclivity’ in women starts early. When asked, ‘How was school today?’ a girl usually tells her mother every detail of what happened, while a boy might grunt, ‘Fine.’ ” EVEolution

397 “One good thing about being a man is that men don’t have to talk to each other.” —Peter Cocotas

405 Albertsons “Gets It”*Albertsons CEO Larry Johnston ( a GE alum) on women in top slots: “Women have insights into our customers that no man—no matter how bright, no matter how hard working—can match. That’s important when 85 percent of all consumer buying decisions made in our stores are made by women.”Retail analyst Burt Flickinger calls the absence of women in top slots, pre-Johnston, the company’s “tragic flaw.” He adds, “It was a bunch of old white guys making erroneous assumptions and erroneous conclusions about women and the multicultural consumers that make up the majority of Albertsons’ customers.”*Only large global corporation with over 50% women (6 of 11) on its Board

409 “Dove’s Campaign Ads Are Raging Success Because They Are Aspirational, But Doable”* —Dr Joyce Brothers/ Advertising Age article-headline/ *Unilever: “For too long beauty has been defined by narrow, unattainable stereotypes. It’s time to change all that … because real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes, colors, and ages.” Dr Brothers: “everyday people” “The disconnect between the Barbie-esque model and the average woman begins to fade.” “looks” vs “beauty”

410 “Unilever brand Dove’s use of six generously proportioned ‘real women’ to promote its skin-firming preparations must qualify as one of the most talked-about marketing decisions taken this summer. It was also one of the most successful: Since the campaign broke, sales of the firming lotion have gone up 700 percent in the UK, 300 percent in Germany and 220 percent in the Netherlands.” —Financial Times/

417 “The New Customer Majority is the only adult market with realistic prospects for significant sales growth in dozens of product lines for thousands of companies.” —David Wolfe & Robert Snyder, Ageless Marketing

420 “Households headed by someone 40 or older enjoy 91% ($9“Households headed by someone 40 or older enjoy 91% ($9.7T) of our population’s net worth. … The mature market is the dominant market in the U.S. economy, making the majority of expenditures in virtually every category.” —Carol Morgan & Doran Levy, Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders

421 50+ $7T wealth (70%)/$2T annual income 50% all discretionary spending 79% own homes/40M credit card users 41% new cars/48% luxury cars $610B healthcare spending/ 74% prescription drugs 5% of advertising targets Ken Dychtwald, Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old

422 “Focused on assessing the marketplace based on lifetime value (LTV), marketers may dismiss the mature market as headed to its grave. The reality is that at 60 a person in the U.S. may enjoy 20 or 30 years of life.” —Carol Morgan & Doran Levy, Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders

423 “Marketers attempts at reaching those over 50 have been miserably unsuccessful. No market’s motivations and needs are so poorly understood.”—Peter Francese, founding publisher, American Demographics

424 Possession Experiences /“Desires for things”/Young adulthood/to 38 Catered Experiences/ “Desires to be served by others”/Middle adulthood Being Experiences/“Desires for transcending experiences”/Late adulthood Source: David Wolfe and Robert Snyder/Ageless Marketing

425 “ ‘Age Power’ will rule the 21st century, and we are woefully unprepared.” Ken Dychtwald, Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old

429 The Hunch of a Lifetime: An Emergent (Market) NexusI have a sense/hunch there’s an interesting nexus among several of the ideas about New Market Realities that I promote … namely Women-Boomers-Wellness-Green-Intangibles. Each one drives the Fundamental (Traditional) Economic Value Proposition toward the “softer side”: From facts- & figures-obsessed males toward relationship-oriented Women. From goods-driven youth toward “experiences”-craving Boomers. From quick-fix & pill-popping “healthcare” toward a holistically inclined “Wellness Revolution.” From mindless exploitation of the Earth’s resources toward increased awareness of the fragility and preciousness of our Environment. From “goods” and “services” toward Design- & Creativity-rich Intangibles-Experiences-Dreams Fulfilled. This so-called “softer side”—as the disparate likes of IBM’s Sam Palmisano and Harley-Davidson’s Rich Teerlink teach us—is now & increasingly “where the loot is,” damn near all the loot. That is, the “softer side” has become the Prime Driver of tomorrow’s “hard” economic value. Furthermore, each of the Five Key Ideas (Women-Boomers-Wellness-Green-Intangibles) feeds off and complements the other four. Dare I use the word “synergy”? Perhaps. (Or: Of course!) I can imagine an enterprise defining its raison d’etre in terms of these Five Complementary Key Ideas. (HINT: DAMN FEW DO TODAY.)

434 15. Re-imagine the Individual I: Welcome to a Brand You World … Distinct or Extinct

435 “One of the defining characteristics [of the change] is that it will be less driven by countries or corporations and more driven by real people. It will unleash unprecedented creativity, advancement of knowledge, and economic development. But at the same time, it will tend to undermine safety net systems and peanalize the unskilled.” —Clyde Prestowitz, Three Billion New Capitalists

436 “If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won’t get noticed, and that increasingly means you won’t get paid much either.” Michael Goldhaber, Wired

438 “You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.” Isabel Allende

439 The Rule of Positioning “If you can’t describe your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.” — Jay Levinson and Seth Godin, Get What You Deserve!

440 Personal “Brand Equity” EvaluationI am known for [2 to 3 things]; next year at this time I’ll also be known for [1 more thing].My current Project is challenging me …New things I’ve learned in the last 90 days include …My public “recognition program” consists of …Additions to my Rolodex in the last 90 days include …My resume is discernibly different from last year’s at this time …

455 Great Salespeople … 8. Never overpromiseGreat Salespeople … 8. Never overpromise. (Even if it costs you your job.) 9. Sell only by solving problems-creating profitable opportunities. (“Our product solves these problems, creates these unimagined INCREDIBLE opportunities, and will make you a ton of money—here’s exactly how.”) (IS THIS A “PRODUCT SALE” OR A WOW-ORIGINAL SOLUTION YOU’LL BE DINING OFF 5 YEARS FROM NOW? THAT WILL BE WRITTEN UP IN THE TRADE PRESS?) 10. Will involve anybody—including mortal enemies—if it enhances the scope of the problem we can solve and increases the scope of the opportunity we can encompass. 11. Know the Brand Story cold; live the Brand Story. (If not, leave.)

456 Great Salespeople … 12. Think “Turnkey. ” (It’s always your problemGreat Salespeople … 12. Think “Turnkey.” (It’s always your problem!) 13. Act as “orchestra conductor”: You are responsible for making the whole-damn-network respond. (PERIOD.) 14. Help the customer get to know the vendor’s organization & build up their Rolodex. 15. Walk away from bad business. (Even if it gets you fired.) 16. Understand the idea of a “good loss.” (A bold effort that’s sometimes better than a lousy win.) 17. Think those who regularly say “It’s all a price issue” suffer from rampant immaturity & shrunken imagination. 18. Will not give away the store to get a foot in the door Are wary & respectful of upstarts—the real enemy. 20. Seek several “cool customers”—who’ll drag you into Tomorrowland.

458 Great Salespeople … 21. Use the word “partnership” obsessively, even though it is way overused. (“Partnership” includes folks at all levels throughout the supply chain.) 22. Send thank you notes by the truckload. (NOT E-NOTES.) (Most are for “little things.”) (50% of those notes are sent to those in our company!) Remember birthdays. Use the word “we.” 23. When you look across the table at the customer, think religiously to yourself: “HOW CAN I MAKE THIS DUDE RICH & FAMOUS & GET HIM-HER PROMOTED?” 24. Great salespeople can affirmatively respond to the query in an HP banner ad: HAVE YOU CHANGED CIVILIZATION TODAY? 25. Keep your bloody PowerPoint slides simple!

459 “Success or Failure”? Try Instead “Optimism or Failure”! From Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism: “I believe the traditional wisdom is incomplete. A composer can have all the talent of a Mozart and a passionate desire to succeed, but if he believes he cannot compose music, he will come to nothing. He will not try hard enough. He will give up too soon when the elusive right melody takes too long to materialize. Success requires persistence, the ability to not give up in the face of failure. I believe that … OPTIMISTIC EXPLANATORY STYLE … is the key to persistence.“The optimistic-explanatory-style theory of success says that in order to choose people for success in a challenging job, you need to select for three characteristics: (1) Aptitude. (2) Motivation. (3) Optimism. All three determine success.”(Note: Seligman’s extensive work with Met Life salespeople, among others,proved out the above—in spades.)

460 Pessimist: Good things … “I’m worthless, but got lucky on this onePessimist: Good things … “I’m worthless, but got lucky on this one.” Bad things … “I’m a bozo who deserved my sorry fate.” Optimist: Good things … “I deserved that; I’m the cat’s meow.” Bad things … “I’m the cat’s meow, but the cat had an unlucky day; tomorrow will be better for sure.”

463 Send “Thank You” notes. It’s (always) “all about relationships*Send “Thank You” notes! It’s (always) “all about relationships.” And at the Heart of Effective Relationships is … APPRECIATION. (Oh yeah: Never, ever forget a birthday of a co-worker.)*Bring donuts! “Small” gestures of appreciation (on a rainy day, after a long day’s work the day before) are VBDs … Very Big Deals.*Make the call! One short, hard-to-make call today can avert a relationship crisis that could bring you down six months from now.*Remember: There are no “little gestures” of kindness. As boss, stopping by someone’s cube … for 30 seconds … to inquire about their sick parent will be remembered for … 10 years. (Trust me.)*Make eye contact! No big deal? Wrong! “It” is all about … Connection! Paying attention! Being there … in the Moment … Present. So, work on your eye contact, your Intent to Connect.*Smile! Or, rather: SMILE. Rule: Smiles beget smiles. Frowns beget frowns. Rule: WORK ON THIS.*Smile! (If it kills you.) Energy & enthusiasm & passion engender energy-enthusiasm-passion in those we work with.

464 It’s all … RELATIONSHIPS*It’s all … RELATIONSHIPS. Remember: Business is a relationships business. (Period.) We’re all in sales! (Period.) Connecting! Making our case! Following up! Networking! “Relationships” are what we “do.”*You = Your Calendar. Your true priorities are “given away” by your calendar. YOUR CALENDAR NEVER LIES. What are you truly spending your time on? Are you distracted? Focused?*What’s in a number? EVERYTHING! While we all “do a hundred things,” we may not/should not/cannot have more than 2 (or 3) true “strategic” priorities at any point in time. BELIEVE IT.*She (he) who is best prepared wins! Out study, out-read, out-research the competition. Know more (lots more!) than “the person on the other side of the table.”*“Excellence” is the Ultimate Cool Idea. The very idea of “pursuing excellence” is a turn on—for you and me as well as those we work with. (And, I find to my dismay, it’s surprisingly rare.)*Think WOW! Language matters! “Hot” words generate a Hot Team. Watch your language!*Take a break! We need all the creativity we can muster these days. So close your office door and do 5 (FIVE) minutes of breathing or yoga; get a bag lunch today and eat it in the park.

465 *You are the boss! Old ideas of “lifetime employment” at one company (maybe where Dad/Mom worked) are gone. No matter what your current status, think of your self as CEO of Brand Me, Inc. We are all Small Business Owners … of our own careers.*Do something in … the next half hour! Don’t let yourself get stuck! There is … ALWAYS … something little you can start/do in the next thirty minutes to make a wee, concrete step forward with a problem-opportunity.*Test it! NOW! We call this the “Quick Prototype Attitude.” One of life’s, especially business life’s, biggest problems is: “Too much ‘talk’, too little ‘do’.” If you’ve got a Cool Idea, don’t sit on it or research it to death. Grab a pal, an empty conference, and start laying out a little model. That is, begin the process of transforming the Idea to Action … ASAP. Incidentally, testing something quarter-baked in an approximation of the real world is the quickest way to learn.*Expand your horizons. Routinely reach out beyond your comfort zone. TAKE A FREAK TO LUNCH TOMORROW! Call somebody interesting “you’ve been meaning to get in touch with;” invite them to lunch tomorrow. (Lunch with “the same ole gang means nothing new learned. And that’s a guarantee.) (Remember: Discomfort = Growth.)*Build a Web site. The Web is ubiquitous. Play with it! Be a presence!Start You.com … ASAP!

466 *Spread the credit! Don’t build monuments to yourself, build them to others—those whose contributions we wholeheartedly acknowledge will literally follow us into machine gun fire!*Follow Tom’s patented VFCJ strategy! VFCJ = Volunteer For Crappy Jobs. That is, volunteer for the crummy little assignment nobody else wants, but will give you a chance to (1) be on your own, (2) express your creativity, and (3) make a noticeable mark when it turns out “Wow.”*VOLUNTEER! Life’s a maze, and you never know what’s connected to what. (Six degrees of separation, and all that.) So volunteer for that Community Center fund raising drive, even though you’re busy as all get out. You might end up working side-by-side with the president of a big company who’s looking for an enthusiast like you, or someone wealthy who might be interested in investing in the small business you dream of starting.*Join Toastmasters! You don’t need to try and match Ronald Reagan’s speaking skills, but you do need to be able to “speak your piece” with comfort, confidence and authority. Organizations like Toastmasters can help … enormously.*Dress for success! This one is old as the hills and I hate it!! But it’s true. FIRST IMPRESSIONS DO MATTER. (A lot!!!)

467 Follow the Gospel of “Experience Marketing” in all you do*Follow the Gospel of “Experience Marketing” in all you do. The shrewdest marketers today tell us that selling a “product” or “service” is not enough in a crowded marketplace for everything. Every interaction must be reframed as a … Seriously Cool Experience. That includes the “little” 15-minute presentation you are giving to your 4 peers tomorrow.*Think of your resume as an Annual Report on Brand Me Inc. It’s not about keeping your resume “updated.” It is about having a Super-cool Annual Report. (Tom Peters Inc 2004.) What are your “stunning” accomplishments that you can add to that Report each 6 months, or at the most annually?*Build a Great Team … even if you are not boss. Best roster wins, right? So, work on your roster. Meet someone new at Church or your kid’s birthday party? Add them to your team (Team Tom); you never know when they might be able to assist you or give you ideas or support for something you are working on.*She or he who has the Fattest & and Best-managed Rolodex wins. Your Rolodex is your most cherished possession! Have you added 3 names to it in the last 2 weeks? Have you renewed acquaintance ( , lunch, gym date) with 3 people in your Rolodex in the last month? “MANAGE” YOUR ROLODEX!

468 Start your own business. Sure that’s radical*Start your own business! Sure that’s radical. But people are doing it—especially women—by the millions. Let the idea percolate. Chat about it, perhaps, with pals. Start a file folder or three on things you Truly Care About … that just might be the basis for Cool Self-employment.*There’s nothing cooler than an Angry Customer! The most loyal customers are ones who had a problem with us … and then marveled when we went the Extra Ten Miles to fix it! Business opportunity No. 1 = Irate customers converted into fans. So … are you on the prowl for customer problems to fix?*All “marketing” is Relationship Marketing. In business, profit is a byproduct of “bringing ’em back.” Thus, systematic and intense and repeated Follow-up and After-sales Service and Scintillating New Hooks are of the utmost importance.

469 *BRANDING ain’t just for Big Dudes. This may well be Business Mistake No. 1 … the idea that “branding” is only for the likes of Coke and Sony and Nike. Baloney! Branding applies as much for the one-person accountancy run out of a spare bedroom as it does for Procter & Gamble.*Credibility! In the end … Character Matters Most. Does he/she give their word, and then stick to it … come hell & high water? Can you rely on Her/Him in a pinch? Does she/he … CARE?*Grace. Is it “a pleasure to do business with you”? Is it a pleasure to “be a member of your team”?

471 “The problem with communication“The problem with communication ...is the ILLUSION that it has been accomplished”—George Bernard Shaw

472 Presentation Excellence 1Presentation Excellence 1. Total commitment to the Problem/Project/Outcome 2. A compelling “Story line”/“Plot” 3. Enough data to sink a tanker (98% in reserve) 4. Know the data from memory; ability to manipulate the data in your head 5. Great Stories/Illustrations/Vignettes 6. Superb “political antennae” (you must “play the room” like a Virtuoso and be hyper-attentive to the likes of Body Language) 7. By hook or by crook … CONNECT 7A. CONNECT! CONNECT! CONNECT! 8. Punch line/Plot Outline/WOW/Surprise in first one to two minutes

473 Joe Kramer, welder: “When my mother’s toaster went on the fritz, I asked myself, ‘If I were that toaster and didn’t work, what would be wrong with me?’ ” —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, on “empathetic identification”* (Joe: “burdens” vs “opportunities” to master complex problems) (*BC vs JK)

474 Presentation Excellence 9Presentation Excellence 9. Once you’ve “won” … stop pushing (don’t “rub it in”) 10. Be “in command” but don’t “show off” (if you’re brilliant they’ll figure it out for themselves) 11. Pay attention to the Senior Person present, but not too much (don’t look like/act like/be a “suck up”) 12. Brief the hell out of your “champions” before the presentation; insist that they make changes/fine tune ... they must “own” the outcome before the fact! 13. Don’t try to “score off” your detractors … be especially courteous to them (even if/especially if they’re jerks) 14. Adjust as you go: LET THE GROUP ARRIVE AT “YOUR” CONCLUSION! THEY MUST OWN IT (“I knew that”) IN THE END!

475 Presentation Excellence 15. No more than THREE key pointsPresentation Excellence 15. No more than THREE key points! Come at them in several different ways. 16. No more than ONE point per slide! 17. Slides: NO CLUTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (no wee print/ charts/graphs) 18. Slides: Good quotes from the field. (Remember you’re “telling a story”) 19. Be aware of differing cognitive styles, especially M-F 20. There must be “surprise” … some key facts that are not commonly known/are counter-intuitive (no reason to do the presentation in the first place if there are no Surprises) 21. Summarize the argument/story from time to time 22. Include an Action Agenda that involves some small items that will be started/accomplished in the next 72 HOURS (this ices commitment/practicality)

476 Presentation Excellence 23. If you don’t know something … ADMIT ITPresentation Excellence 23. If you don’t know something … ADMIT IT! (this is actually a good thing—as opposed to appearing as a “know it all”) 24. ASK FOR THE SALE! (Remember to be a “closer”) 25. This is War (a war for Hearts & Mind), but never forget that you are the Supplicant! 26. Data are imperative, but also play to Emotion Consider bringing along a “customer” (internal or perhaps external) for support 28. Be precisely clear where/when you intend to prototype … and that the prototype guinea pig is lined up (better yet, do the first, at least partial, prototype before the presentation) 29. Compromise but don’t yield! (Lost battles are normal, no matter how agonizing) 30. Assume that you may be cut off at any moment, and be prepared to give on the spot a compelling 30-second to one- minute (no longer!) Brilliant Summary including Sales Pitch

477 Presentation Excellence 31Presentation Excellence 31. Follow the Law of Recency: Make sure that you have been in the field with the key “operating” players more recently than anyone in the room 32. Make it clear that you’ve done a Staggering Amount of Homework, even though you are exhibiting but a tiny fraction … allude to the tons of research that are available if desired by participants; offer deeper one-on-one briefings if desired 33. SMILE! RELAX (to a point) (fake it if necessary) (“up tight” is disastrous) (remember you are doing them a favor by sharing this Compelling Opportunity!) 34. EYE CONTACT!!!!!!! 35. Be shrewd: Override some interruptions; be attentive to others (distraction is okay and normal … within limits!) 36. Becoming an Excellent Presenter is as tough as becoming a great baseball pitcher. THIS IS IMPORTANT … and Presentation Excellence is never accidental! (Work your buns off!)

478 Presentation Excellence 37Presentation Excellence 37. Practice … but don’t leave your game in the locker room. 38. Seek tips on how various participants “play the [presentation] game” 39. A Presentation is an Act (FDR: “The President must be the nation’s number one actor”) 40. Remember, the presentation is about Change … RESISTANCE IS NORMAL (in fact if there’s little resistance then your Project is hardly a “game changer”) 41. Dress well. Don’t over-dress. 42. Be early (obvious, but worth saying) 43. GET THE A/V RIGHT/PERFECT. 44. Don’t bring a supporting horde … a couple of back-ups is okay/enough 45. No matter how good you are you’ll have crappy days … WEEP AND THEN GET BACK ON THE HORSE

480 Presentation Excellence 53Presentation Excellence Say what you have to say Clearly … and then Say It Again & Again from slightly different angles 54. Make it clear that you are a Man/Woman of Action … and Execution Excellence is your First, Middle, and Last Name! 55. Energy! Enthusiasm! (don’t know the answer to, “If you ain’t got it how do you get it?”) 56. Enjoy it! This is a Hoot! THE ULTIMATE TURN ON! Remember your Goal: Change the world!

481 “In classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, ‘Let us march.’” —Adlai Stevenson

484 Interviewing Excellence 1. INTERVIEWING IS AN “ART” WORTH MASTERINGInterviewing Excellence 1. INTERVIEWING IS AN “ART” WORTH MASTERING! (Think Christine Amanpour, Mike Wallace) 2. Don’t overschedule—2 or 3 in depth interviews are a solid day’s work. (More than that is lunacy and will lead to shallow results.) 3. Save, if possible, the “Big Guy/Gal until last—that is, until you know what the hell you’re doing! 4. Find a comfy/“safe”/neutral setting. THIS IS ALL IMPORTANT! (Worst case: You on the other side of his/her desk.) 5. Start with a little bit (LITTLE) of local small talk. But get some tips on the interviewee ahead of time; he may be one of the “brusque ones” who considers any small talk a waste of his Imperial Time. 6. DO YOUR DAMN HOME WORK! (On the interviewee, the subject matter.) 7. Concoct a … LONG LIST … of questions. (You’ll ony use 10% ot it, but that’s okay.)

485 Interviewing Excellence 8Interviewing Excellence 8. Prepare a … SHORT LIST … of questions you must get answered. 9. Begin by briefly reviewing your assignment—why you’re here. 10. ALWAYS ASK FOR EXAMPLES! (When she says “Customer Service is in good shape,” you ask for specifics—hard data, recent Customer Service successes (and failures). And: PRECISELY WHO YOU CAN FOLLOW UP WITH TO GET MORE DETAIL. 11. STORIES! STORIES! STORIES! (You are in the “Story Collection Business.) 12. Dress well. DON’T OVERDRESS. (Look like they look, more or less; perhaps a touch more formal—this is a Serious Affair you are engaging in.) 13. Assume you’ll never get another chance to talk to this person. 14. Be personable, but more or less match the interviewee’s style. (THIS IS HARD WORK!) 15. THINK … SMALL! “Please walk me in great detail through the [complaint resolution] process. Here, let’s diagram it.”

486 Interviewing Excellence 16. For God’s sake, get to the Front LineInterviewing Excellence 16. For God’s sake, get to the Front Line! (The devil is in the details, and the details are to be found on the loading dock at 3a.m.) (YES … 3A.M.) 17. Don’t quit until you understand. THE INTERVIEWEE ALWAYS TALKS IN SHORTHAND—using the jargon of the Corporate Culture. You’ve got to crack the code. (THIS IS ABOUT THE HARDEST THING TO DO, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE YOUNG AND UNCERTAIN: Tell yourself you are here to ask “Dumb” Questions—this is not a job interview. Again, think Mike Wallace: “So did you in fact murder Mrs. Smith?”) 18. Ignore generalizations! YOU ARE HERE IN SEARCH OF SPECIFICS!!! 19. CONTEXT! “Get” the “corporate culture”—e.g. Shell is not ExxonMobil! Find out (from a set of interviewees) “Core Values” (in theory and in practice).

487 Interviewing Excellence 20. Engage the IntervieweeInterviewing Excellence 20. Engage the Interviewee! GET HER TO DO SOME OF THE WORK! E.g., write out her view of the Ten Key Operative Core Values—or some such. 20A. ENGAGE! ENGAGE! ENGAGE! 21. You must come across as “trustworthy.” YOU ARE A DUMBO HERE TO LEARN—NOT AN FBI AGENT IN DISGUISE “Take me through yesterday.” Get past the theoretical crap. Give me in excruciating detail an average day: YESTERDAY! (One hour/meeting at a time.) 23. “If you’re comfortable, let’s go over your Calendar for the last month, so I can understand the flow of things.” (Remember TP’s Rule #1: YOU = YOUR CALENDAR.) 24. DON’T LET YOUR NOTES AGE!! Immediately after the interview set aside some time to do a “stream of consciousness” recap. And to clean up the obscure scrawl on your notes.

488 Interviewing Excellence 25Interviewing Excellence 25. Ask the interview if you can get back to her by phone tomorrow to fill in holes that your tin ear missed. NO MORE THAN TEN MINUTES. 26. LEARNING! Tag along with “great interviewers” in your organization. (I made three PBS films with a Director who had been Mike Wallace’s director at 60 Minutes—oh my God, how much I learned—or, rather, how little I learned: He could drag stuff out of people that you couldn’t believe. (Secret: “I’m just a dumb old fart trying to figure out what goes on here. HELP ME. PLEASE.”) 27. “Work on” your Level of Dis-satisfaction: BE MAD AS HELL WHEN YOU SPENT 1.5 HOURS ON AN INTERVIEW WITHOUT REVALATIONS! 28. No, you’re not FBI—BUT YOU ARE HERE TO FERRET OUT THE NON-OBVIOUS. So: Keep Digging! (Think Woodward & Bernstein.)

489 Interviewing Excellence 29Interviewing Excellence 29. Repeat: INTERVIEWING IS A CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT “ART.” Study it! Work on it! It’s no different than golf or underwater basket-weaving. The more & harder you work, the better you get Yes, we need “facts” (e.g., stories), but remember alWays: INTERVIEWS ARE PURE & SIMPLE ABOUT EMOTIONAL INTERACTION! 31. Tom Wrap-up Note: FEW THINGS IN LIFE PISS ME OFF MORE THAN GOING THROUGH SOMEONE’S INTERVIEW NOTES AND FINDING A DEARTH OF “SOLID EVIDENCE”—examples., stories, detailed process maps, etc. (I BLOODY HATE Generalizations!) (Think doctor’s office: Come hell & high water they stert with weight, blood pressure, pulse.)

493 “The leaders of Great Groups love talent and know where to find it“The leaders of Great Groups love talent and know where to find it. They revel in the talent of others.” Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius

494 “He revived the company not by rolling up his sleeves and building shoe molds in the design lab, nor by dreaming up new ads or slogans. Instead [Nike CEO Phil] Knight did what he does best: find and motivate talented people, then let them do their thing. He brought in outsiders, stars like Mindy Grossman from Ralph Lauren … —Fortune/04.05

495 Q: “If it were your $50K [life’s savings] and my $50K, what sort of Waiters would we look for?” A: “Enthusiasts!”

496 From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW] to … “Best Talent in each industry segment to build best proprietary intangibles” [EM] Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent

497 “We believe companies can increase their market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia-Pacific changed 20 of his 40 box plant managers to put more talented, higher paid managers in charge. He increased profitability from $25 million to $80 million in 2 years.” Ed Michaels, War for Talent

498 Did We Say “Talent Matters”Did We Say “Talent Matters”? “The top software developers are more productive than average software developers not by a factor of 10X or 100X, or even 1,000X, but 10,000X.” —Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Scientist, Microsoft

500 Wegman’s: #1/100 Best Companies to Work for 84%: Grocery stores “are all alike” 46%: additional spend if customers have an “emotional connection” to a grocery store rather than “are satisfied” (Gallup) “Going to Wegman’s is not just shopping, it’s an event.” —Christopher Hoyt, grocery consultant “You cannot separate their strategy as a retailer from their strategy as an employer.” —Darrell Rigby, Bain & Co.

502 thus be in charge of his or her own career.”“Firms will not ‘manage the careers’ of their employees. They will provide opportunities to enable the employee to develop identity and adaptability andthus be in charge of his or her own career.”Tim Hall et al., “The New Protean Career Contract”

507 “AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE: New Studies find that female managers outshine their male counterparts in almost every measure” Title, Special Report/BusinessWeek

508 “On average, women and men possess a number of different innate skills“On average, women and men possess a number of different innate skills. And current trends suggest that many sectors of the twenty-first-century economic community are going to need the natural talents of women.” Helen Fisher, The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World

510 “TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once“TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance? Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it easier to meet new people? Who asks more questions in a conversation? Who is a better listener? Who has more interest in communication skills? Who is more inclined to get involved? Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’ list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events? Who is better at keeping in touch with others?” Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy & Susan Kane-Benson

511 “Investors are looking more and more for a relationship with their financial advisers. They want someone they can trust, someone who listens. In my experience, in general, women may be better at these relationship-building skills than are men.” Hardwick Simmons, CEO, Prudential Securities

516 “Every time I pass a jailhouse or a school, I feel sorry for the people inside.” —Jimmy Breslin, on “summer school” in NYC [“If they haven’t learned in the winter, what are they going to remember from days when they should be swimming?”]

517 “The main crisis in school today is irrelevance“The main crisis in school today is irrelevance.” —Daniel Pink, Free Agent Nation

518 J. D. Rockefeller’s General Education Board (1915): “In our dreams people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. … The task is simple. We will organize children and teach them in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.” John Taylor Gatto, A Different Kind of Teacher

519 “My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher conference and were informed that our budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How could any child—let alone our child—receive a poor grade in art at such a young age? His teacher informed us that he had refused to color within the lines, which was a state requirement for demonstrating ‘grade-level motor skills.’ ” —Jordan Ayan, AHA!

520 “How many artists are there in the room“How many artists are there in the room? Would you please raise your hands. FIRST GRADE: En mass the children leapt from their seats, arms waving. Every child was an artist. SECOND GRADE: About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no higher. The hands were still. THIRD GRADE: At best, 10 kids out of 30 would raise a hand, tentatively, self-consciously. By the time I reached SIXTH GRADE, no more than one or two kids raised their hands, and then ever so slightly, betraying a fear of being identified by the group as a ‘closet artist.’ The point is: Every school I visited was was participating in the suppression of creative genius.” Source: Gordon MacKenzie,Orbiting the Giant Hairball:A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace

521 Ye gads: “Thomas Stanley has not only found no correlation between success in school and an ability to accumulate wealth, he’s actually found a negative correlation. ‘It seems that school-related evaluations are poor predictors of economic success,’ Stanley concluded. What did predict success was a willingness to take risks. Yet the success-failure standards of most schools penalized risk takers. Most educational systems reward those who play it safe. As a result, those who do well in school find it hard to take risks later on.” Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes, Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins

525 “There is little evidence that mastery of the knowledge acquired in business schools enhances people’s careers, or that even attaining the MBA credential itself has much effect on graduates’ salaries or career attainment.” —Jeffrey Pfeffer (tenured professor, Stanford GSB/2004)

528 Why do only the service academies teach leadership as a rigorous discipline worthy of study and experiential learning? (Is there much difference between a Company Commander and a Department Head?)* *Best “MBA”: USNA<USMA<USAFA